We Are Legion: The Metamorphosis of Ward XVI (Interview – Written)

The resurgence of Ward XVI is undeniable as the band are set to release their breathtaking new album, Id3ntity, which is out on Friday 11th July, via Earache. In this interview we learn about the new record, the creative process, the challenges, and so much more.

1. Hello Ward XVI. The gates of the Asylum have been cast open, and you’re roaming free, what’s a day in the life of a member of Ward XVI look like right now?

Psychoberrie: Honestly it’s been quite stressful. We do everything in house and there’s so many moving parts at the moment as we’re simultaneously preparing the album release and our release show. We’re building props, rehearsing, programming lights and also looking to integrate video into our live production which is something we’ve not done before and at the same time I’m working on the artwork for the digipak CD and merch bundles for the album and singles. The Dok is working very hard to push the promotion online, pricing up and ordering merch as well sending out online ordersand we’re out there trying to attend as many events as we can, doing some physical promotion, handing out flyers. On top of this we’re working with DC Sound Attack to build the UK tour in October. We are at a stage now though where it’s all finally coming together and from the reviews we’ve seen so far the work we put into the writing has really paid off. I think it’s our best album by far.

Dok Von Stottenstein: aaaaaaaagggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

2. Of course, you are up to your elbows in the guts of the build to the release of your brand-new album, ‘Id3ntity’. Out July 11th, via Earache Digital distribution . Sum up what this new album says about Ward XVI.

Dok Von Stottenstein: It’s a clear mark of intent from us. Whereas the last album was dark and introspective, this album is angry, brash and aggressive from the very first note and carries on through the 10 songs. We’ve played big stages with some big names so we’ve looked at what gets crowds moving and also gained the confidence to take a heavier stance whilst keeping it a WARD XVI album.

3. It’s been almost five years since we witnessed Psychoberrie’s metamorphosis from innocence to insanity. Was this third entry always going to happen and at what stage did ideas start to form?

Psychoberrie: From the very beginning this was a story that was going to be told over several albums and it was very early on that we decided this particular story would be a trilogy. Where this album is placed chronologically was determined before Metamorphosis. With that album we wanted to go back to the beginning and it was decided that this new album would bridge the gap between Metamorphosis and The Art of Manipulation. That said I wanted to leave the main bulk of the story as a blank canvas until we could set aside dedicated time to writing this album. And that’s partly why it took so long to come about. Covid put a big halt in our plans to tour Metamorphosis so everything backed up.

4.What did the early vision look like for the album, and did you have clear direction that you wanted to take your music in?

Psychoberrie: I wrote the story down before we began the music and then we brainstormed what the mood needed to be for each track. From that it became quite easy and also exciting to compose.

Dok Von Stottenstein: I wanted to write a heavy aggressive album that you could stick your foot on the monitor and just riff to. The last album took a lot of concentration to play so you could never lose yourself much to the music whereas this album is more in line with the heavier tastes I have. Luckily the story beats needed this type of aggressive direction.

5. How experimental did you find yourself being at first, and what were some of the more ‘unusual’ results? While it is fair to say that Ward XVI has an identifiable sound, it’s even fairer to say that you don’t conform to genre norms.

Psychoberrie: I think I’m naturally a non-conformist and this is the first album where I’ve had complete control over keyboard elements which really allowed me to scope the tracks as I envisaged them. I don’t think I need to actively try to be different and experimental with my ideas, that’s just the way I hear things in my head.Myself and the Dok do the great majority of the composing and we work well together but also challenge each other. I’m not afraid to throw out ideas that I consider to be mediocre. OK is not good enough and he’s not afraid to say “this needs to be heavier, this section is dragging”. Some songs begin as a guitar track and some behin as a keys track and I think we both surprise each other with how we change the songs when we add our elements and sometimes that takes several versions before everything works well together and sometimes it’s instantaneous

Dok Von Stottenstein: I’m not a good enough musician to premeditatedly say “oh I’m going to play a jazz age here, or we should do dub beat there, but I think we do have an open ear and are willing to just give it a go and bodge it. both myself and Psychoberrie gained a lot of confidence with this one as we wrote it alone with very little outside influence so it felt like reins had been removed to a certain point. Much of it was instinct and momentary lapses of reason tbh.

We also used our ever present producer Mark Winterburn who is more used to producing lily allen and more mainstream (competent) dudes than us, so he always challenges us to go outside the box and experiment with different instruments and devices to make obscure sounds that ad texture and depth.

6. How much of the changes to Ward XVI have been dictated by the response to Metamorphosis, the live shows around it, and a burgeoning fanbase that continues to treat you with a certain amount of (deserved) reverence?

Dok Von Stottenstein: The new show music has been heavily influenced by the live element. The last album was a slow burner… songs took 2 minutes to really warm up and although that’s good from a perspective of building mood and tension, it’s difficult to sometimes translate that into a shorter set or in a festival where you’re not playing to your own fanbase.. this one kicks and kicks hard and I think with our own twists and turns will really show another side to us to our inmates whilst give us a better chance of grabbing new inmates who might need less than 3 minutes to find a hook.

This show will allow us to interact more with the inmates too and really unify us.

7. In what areas did you find you pushed yourself in ways you didn’t expect and what were the positives of that?

Psychoberrie: I think I had to explore some different vocal styles on this album. There are rap elements which aren’t a challenge for me to perform but there’s a great deal of anxiety about presenting an idea like that. When you do something really different to what people are used to hearing from you,you don’t know how the others are going to react. You have to push yourself out of your comfort zone and lay yourself bare sometimes with vocals which is definitely something I tried to overcome on this album. A lot of these tracks needed more aggression which is something that is quite technically hard for me to do. I know how I wanted things to sound but I had to learn new techniques to achieve that. And that’s something I’m still working on. I have to do these songs 14 days on the trot at the end of the year so I can’t afford to blow out my voice so I need to make sure my technique is correct in a loud, adrenaline-fueled environment.

Dok Von Stottenstein: Out of all the albums this felt natural to me. I closed my eyes and just it the notes flow into the guitar.

I think the biggest challenge was to take on more responsibility with keys etc whilst also balancing all the needs to the writing/ working/ family life and so on. It was more of a bridge we had to cross to realise that we could do it independently.

Live wise will be the real challenge, there’s not much chance for breath so we’ll all need to be fitter to be slamming these songs with the aggression needed for over an hour.

8.What have been some of the more challenging aspects to making this record a reality?

Dok Von Stottenstein: Balancing this monster with our young kids, full time jobs, motivating the others whilst also keeping the band semi relevant was a big fkn challenge.. there are times you just had to push beyond limits of physical and mental barriers to scale what seemed impossible at times.

Everything has a deadline and trying to do this and keep 5 others on track to ensure milestones were met and that you weren’t also ignoring family time / work priorities was ridiculously stressful for me.

9. Being an independent band, DIY through and through, in an industry that is horribly unforgiving. What drives you, especially in modern times?

Psychoberrie: It feels like we’re climbing Everest, the further we go up the harder it gets but I didn’t come to climb to base camp. Now we look and we can see what we have achieved through the graft we’ve put in. At one point I could only dream of playing to the these audiences, having all these people singing along to our songs. There have been times when I feel like this workload is far too much to juggle but I know how much this means to people. All I have to do is picture all the people that wear our merch, display their inmate numbers with pride, have our logos or faces tattooed on them and that spurs me on to keep driving this through thick and thin. I’m so proud of how far we’ve come but I can also see how far this can go and I’m obsessive enough to keep at it.

10. How important is it for you to have a community around you? Ward XVI is more than just a band now, right?

Dok Von Stottenstein: I think it’s given validity and credibility to what we have done and the world we’ve built. It’s not just us looking daft, but a heap of people have done the same which gives us confidence to push into that crazier level. And as many times they’ve messaged us to say our music has in some way helped them, they have done the same for us when all we’ve wanted to do was pack it in and call it a day. There’s a symbiotic relationship with us all that ebbs and flows.

11. Is there a specific track (unreleased) that you’re particularly interested in seeing the reaction to? What is it, and why?

Psychoberrie: Our 3rd single is my favourite on the album but I am aware that this is a Kate Bush Wuthering Heights kind of decision that I’ve made. The label and everyone told her not to release that track because it’s not an easy listen, it’s far different from anything released at the time, but she insisted and did it anyway. With this track I did not play it safe, especially in this algorithmic age that we’re in now. So it could be flop but also it could be huge and I can see both of those scenarios clear as day. I believe this song is epic but I have absolutely taken a gamble but that also makes it hugely exciting to see how it plays out.

Dok Von Stottenstein: There’s a few songs where I’ve pushed myself on the guitar solo wise and channelled my inner Nuno bettencourt. There’s another song which the music direction goes through around 6 genres and dabbles in some that I think will be curveballs.

12. What do you hope listeners take away from ‘Id3ntity’?

Psychoberrie: I just hope they enjoy listening to the story as they would if watching a horror movie. All I want to do with my creations is entertain. We live in a world where everything seems like a competition, everyone’s judging and picking things apart. Just sit back and enjoy it.

Dok Von Stottenstein: I hope they take away about 10 copies and shirts each so we have a small chance of making some money back

13. You’ve got the album release show on July 25th in Manchester, some festival shows, and an extensive Autumn UK tour that ends with a hometown show on Halloween. What can we expect from a modern Ward XVI show and what plans do you have to bring this album to life in stage?

Dok Von Stottenstein: It’s a show 10 years in the making and evolution… everything we’ve been through and experienced has lead to this point and we are looking at pushing even more boundaries… we’ve discussed having cars on stage, but dropped that for something more challenging, we’re definitely looking at a ‘splash zone’ at the front of stage for the braver among gig goers – will be the horror metal version of Blackpool’s Valhalla ride.

We are looking at using newer technology, but it will still be very much a home made bodge job of a stage show that will be giving us a nervous breakdown to set up and pack away.

In other words…Agggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhbhbbhhhbhh!

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